Getting To Know Each Other

Tuesday in Nanchang. The plan is for us to visit Teng Weng Pavillion in the morning with the afternoon free.

At breakfast in the hotel, where yesterday it was empty and today it was overrun by a conference of some sort with everyone wearing the same red and blue golf shirt, Kay struck up a conversation with a couple we had met the day before who were sitting at the next table. And if you don't believe that this is a small world, this may help prove it. The people are from the town where Kay and I grew up and their 9 year old daughter, also from China, is going to school where Kay went to middle school.

JMXC is a very vocal and communicative girl. Going on at on at length with no prompting. She repeats some of the sounds quite often. Some of it seems to be basic speech development, lots of "da" and "dada", "la" and "lala". And because we don't speak any type of Chinese, we have no idea if anything she is saying is gibberish, or some rudimentary Chinese. In addition, she seems to be using some sign language of some sort. We figure it has to mean either she is hungry, or wants a bottle, or wants her diaper changed, more likely the former.





She also has just about figured out crawling in the past 48 hours. When we got her, she was great with the arms, but not so good with her legs, the result being she would move backwards when she wanted to go forward. But she is now moving forward pretty much at will, and she also has the leg movements for walking figured out, though not perfected. She also has a ways to go with her balance before she is walking, but that cannot be too far away, either.

We went to the pavilion today as planned.


It was first built in 653 AD, with this one being some more recent iteration. The elevator gives that away. JMXC was fully engaged during a short play, very focussed on the performance. We were quite proud, and relieved of course, that there was not a peep of discontent out of her.

She was also the center of some attention from the locals, with people trying to get her attention, making friendly remarks, and taking pictures.










After that, back to the hotel, the Crowne Plaza, which is very nice. It is not, however, particularly family friendly. I'll skip my rant.

It is almost miraculous to be with Jenny Mei. Kay and I could not be happier and the joy she has brought to us is immeasurable. She has a cold, as all the girls from her orphanage do, and has been dripping snot since we met her. She has heat rash and is itching like mad, waking up numerous times each night to scratch and cry before falling back to sleep. At times during the day she scratches her lower back so much she practically scratches herself raw. She has something up with her scalp, possibly heat rash as well, and that itches too. And she has this big belly, but you can see her ribs, and there is not an ounce of fat on this child, so you know that she is under-nourished. And she is teething. And there are these strange people taking care of her, one of whom is a man, which she is not completely comfortable with.

And she is so HAPPY!!!! Laughing and smiling and chatting up an indecipherable storm!! An independent, feisty little ball of positive energy who has the power to positively transform our moods through the sheer force of her four-toothed smile. She takes face-plant after face-plant into
the bed and comes up with a grin. "Oh no, don't hold my bottle, I can do it for myself," she would say if she could speak English. And she does hold it. She has bonded with Kay after two days like they have been together forever, with each of them lighting up when they see each other. And even when I pick her up, and she she cries, and struggles, all I need to do is start walking, and she settles down, holding on as we take laps of the room, or the lobby, or the parking lot with her head swiveling, trying to take everything in. And when we encounter a man somewhere, and he tries to get her attention by clucking at her, because that is what they do here, she buries her head in my chest out of shyness, and I know at that moment with all my heart, that this was meant to be, that this tiny, snot dripping, half starved, absolutely spectacular little girl is mine, is ours. And we are a family. Completely. Perfectly. Whole.

Kay and me and our Beautiful Star.

Location:Nanchang, China